Home
by Lost42
Summary: Eliza travels to Mongolia to help her friend compete in a horse race.


We are packing up everything we owned and moving to the capital to live with my uncle. My mother is sick and since my accident my father has grown overprotective of me and so it was getting harder to live this life. My father thought it was best for the whole family to move. By the time you read this I will be in Ulaanbaatar. I have to help pack now but i cannot wait to see you again my friend.

I put the letter into an envelope and stepped outside. The sun was bright and warm. I looked out at the endless green steppe in front of me and sighed. I would miss the freedom I had out here, well the freedom I used to have. Ever since my accident my father had fobidden me to ride. It happened two months ago and ever since then our lives have been changing, but not for the better.

I pull my bright green silk jacket tighter around me to keep out the slight chill that comes with the winf every now and then. I begin to roll up the blankets that we use for sleeping and pck them onto the wagon. I sit next to my mother on the wagon and watch my father and older brother pack away our home. It doesn't last very long and soon we begin traveling, leaving the endless space behind us.

It takes a long time to reach our new home. We stop and sell our livestock and horses to some people in a small village. I'm sad to see them go but greatful father is letting me our black dog. If it weren't for him I probably wouldn't be here today.

We finally reach my uncle's house. It's on the outisde of the city. I am greatful for the quiet night so I can finally sleep. In the morning my fathe takes my mother to the hospital. When they return the news isn't good. My mother has cancer. The doctors say they can try to cure it with medicine but it is expensive and we don't have much money. Father offers them the money we got from selling our animals and treatment begins. My mother stays at th hospital for a long time and when she returns home she is very weak and wears a scarf on her head.

Finally the day I have been waiting for arrives. Eliza is here at last. I need a distraction from all the family chaos going on around me. I take her outside and show her around. My faithful dog tags along with us. He almost never leaves my side and I feel safe with him near.

"It's so good to see you again." I say as we sit for lunch at a restaraunt my uncle introduced me to.

"It's great to see you too." Eliza says."Are you excited for the naadam festival?"

"Yes but my father will not let me compete in the race because of what happened a few months ago." I explained.

"You mean the accident when you lost the sight in your right eye?" Eliza asked. I nodded.

"I really want to compete and show my father i can still do the same things as before. Also the prize is alot of money that we could use to help heal my mother." I said with a little more excitment then I meant to.

"What if we compete in secret. We can get somone to distract your father and once he notices your gone the race will already be over."

"That just might work!" I exclaimed."My brother is competeing in wrestlingso maybe I can sneak off when my brother is watching him." I felt more happy then I had since this whole thing started.

The next day while my father was working I met Eliza at the edge of town next to their big car that they lived in. I saw her standing next to a brown horse.

"This is Jambin. I rode him last year in the race." Eliza explained.

"But you did not win. I need a fast horse if I am going to win." I said.

"He's trained alot since last year. Just give him a try." Eliza pleaded.

I did as she asked and got on the horse. We started to pick up speed and I felt more free then I had in a long time. Memories of home came flooding back to me as we rode across the grass.

"See I told he was fast." Eliza said as I came to a stop next to her.

"I think he will do great tomorrow." I said excitedly.

The next day my father sat me down to watch my brother compete in the wrestleing match. He was soon distracted with cheering him on. This was my chance to sneak away. I met Eliza near the race's starting place and I took my place with Jambin. We had to qualify first. This was the easy part. I had competed in these races since I was four and I was a very good rider. The race began and I came in second place. Eliza was right, this horse was fast.

Next was the real race. I was sitting on Jambin's back when I soon spotted my father walking through the crowd. I couldn't tell if he saw me or not, but it didn't matter because the race had begun. I started out slow so Jambin would not tire early. Soon I made him go faster and before I knew it I had won the race and the prize money.

I jumped off of jambin and ran into my father. I was expecting him to be mad at me, but when I looked up into his face he was smiling.

"I am very proud of you." He said.

I knew you could do it." Eliza congratulated me.

"You picked a good horse." I told her.

The next day we donated all the money that me and my brother had won for my mother's treatment. A few months later she was cyred of her cancer and we moved back to the steppe where I felt most at home.

I don't know how I feel about this story, but it's just something that popped into my head one day and I've never written for Wild Thornberrys, so I thought I'd give it a try.


End file.
